It was a calm, clear spring evening. We were seated comfortably around our dear Master under the trees in the yard. The stars were visible through the branches. Cricket sounds were audible. There are times which the World of Supreme Intelligence prepares from afar There are times when the sounds of the world appear to be in perfect polyphonic harmony. We sang a few songs. And then in the silence that fell, somebody brought up the question about the inner work of the disciple.
The Master said:

"Prayer is the most powerful act in the human life. It brings into a singular focus man's thoughts, feelings and will. Such a prayer is powerful. It works miracles. Prayer is the most beautiful work! It is a conversation with God. There is no more important moment than this: for man to view God's face! How beautiful it is, upon rising in the morning, to talk with the Immortal One!

"He who is not interested in God gradually loses his energy and falls behind. While thinking about the Angels, man is in the Angelic World. When you think about God, you are in the Divine World. We live in whatever world we are thinking about.

"One environment tolerates you for a certain period of time, but after that you move onto another one. Fish were in the water. After a while, the most advanced of them went into a less dense environment. Because of the great constraint in which they had found themselves, the idea entered their minds that another more favorable life existed in a less dense environment - above the water. And in such a way, they became birds.

"Man, as well, when he finds himself under restricted conditions, strives towards God. You strive today, again tomorrow, and finally you enter a more supreme Life. The idea creates the form.
"The Law is: if you think about a good man, light will come into your mind and warmth into your heart. If you think about a maleficent man, darkness will appear in your mind and cold in your heart.
"This Law is about our relationship to God. When you connect with God, light will enter your consciousness, and profound peace your soul. If you connect with the Angels, again you will be filled with bright thoughts and noble feelings. When you think about the plants and animals, they also influence you. The Law states: You connect with whatever you are thinking about.

"Through prayer, man communicates with God and with the Advanced Beings. Then God tells man about Love and about the Intelligent Beings. When you get up in the morning, direct your consciousness to the Higher Reality. After that, independent of what you are doing, studying or hoeing, address the Invisible World for help. Instead, you immediately start to labor in the morning; you forget about the great Reality, about the Intelligent Forces in Nature. There is a Law which States: when man directs his consciousness to the Higher Reality, it abides within him. And when he directs his consciousness to the shadows, he lives in the shadows.

"Prayer and contemplation are the efforts of the soul to ascend to a higher place. In this way an influx of mental energy will come, and so the work of the conscious human life will become easier. To pray and to contemplate - this means to send forth your report to that Supreme Center from which you have descended. What will you report about? About the work you have accomplished. In response to your report, a correct exchange between your thoughts and feelings and those of the Evolved Beings of the Supreme World will occur. If somebody thinks that prayer, contemplation and meditation are not necessary, he is on the wrong path.

"When you pray, you determine your own status. When you pray, you are in a continuous connection with the whole Genesis of Creation. When you know this, do not obstruct that natural process within you.

"From prayer, man acquires energy from the Divine World. The Law of prayer is the same as the Law of Nourishment. When deprived of food, a man will feel some lack. When the soul is deprived of prayer, a need is also felt. Prayer is the inner necessity of the soul.

"Prayer is a reality, not a shadow. That which at a given moment gives strength to the mind, heart, soul and spirit is something real.

"Prayer is the conscious work of the human soul. When one prays, the soul steps beyond the ordinary consciousness. We can describe this process as an emergence from the narrow confines in which man lives.

"Prayer resembles the extending of the ameba's pseudopodia to catch its food. This is an unceasing process. For the new to come into man, he needs to direct his mind to the Supreme Center of the Universe every morning.

"Prayer is a law of watering. Through it all good influences are attracted. When a man is praying, everything around him grows and develops. When a man understands the great Law of prayer, he will become a true man; he will become one of the great initiates.
"Have you seen how an Angel prays?

"Prayer is the first method through which we begin to learn the Divine Language. If you do not pray, you will never learn it. Through prayer, we study God's Language. We still do not know God's Language.

"True prayer implies concentration, seclusion. Nobody should see you when you are praying. When the merchant is praying, he should forget about his business, all his dealings."

On another occasion the Master said:
"Prayer is one of the means through which one comes to know God as Love. It leads to Love, to the good and sublime elevated state you attain - to help, to forgive your fellow man, to uplift the fallen one. This is due to the time you have spent in your secret chamber.
"Man must pray so that God does not turn His face away from him. It is frightful when God hides His face from man! Then such darkness, cold and solitude will come which he has never had experienced in his life.

"A saint receives his knowledge through prayer, contemplation, meditation and observation. He prays for a long time, until he receives inspiration and obtains new thoughts.

"Wherever you are, in whatever situation you may be, take a half-hour or an hour to think about God. In such a way, your consciousness expands. To think about the Great Intelligent Cause, about the Supreme Center of Creation, is worth more than all the material wealth on earth. The thought of God also renews and rejuvenates the physical body because the energy reaches it as well.

"If somebody says that he does not need to think about God, he becomes like an orphaned child without a father and mother and goes around in torn clothes, homeless and friendless. Then the parasites start to attack him, and he loses his bearing in life. I am speaking figuratively. I will translate: when a man stops thinking about God, he begins to be vulnerable, and dark inferior beings attack him.

"Man cannot attain anything, if he does not pray. Pray so that more light may come into your consciousness.

"There are no beings more highly developed than the Angels. The next phase which humankind will enter is the angelic phase. Then our unrefined earthly bodies will be changed into energetic ones. They will be composed of more refined matter. How will these be created? Through prayer, contemplation, meditation. In other words, prayer is a method of organizing the spiritual body, the new body in which man will live.

"I ask modern scientists and philosophers how many times a day they think about God. The cause for the misfortune of modern man lies in the fact that they do not remember God. Prayer is a method for solving the most difficult tasks. Doubt, suspicion, skepticism and many other negative thoughts and sentiments are the cause of most of the diseases in mankind. Through prayer, man may overcome these negative conditions. There is a miraculous power in prayer.

"For a man to recite a verse from the Scripture with the will to understand is sufficient for Christ to come and help him. He will bring light into his mind and will improve his affairs.

"Prayer increases the vibration of the human aura. In this way, man becomes immune to the inferior influences surrounding him. Through prayer, man can insulate himself from the anxieties and fears of the world. They cannot penetrate him.

"When man is praying for one of his good desires to be fulfilled, the Invisible World always helps. You are ill. Pray to God, and very soon you will recover. There is nothing in the whole world which man desires that God did not accomplish. The world represents the desires of these small beings. God has granted all their desires.

"If everyone would address God with the supplication: 'God, we have used all means to put order into the world. Give us a way of doing this.' And if they prayed from the heart, the course of action would come. This method is very simple, but when applied, God will come into the world and will help people.

"There is no living being in the world, small or large, whose appeal God has not answered. There is no case in which God has not answered your disordered mail. Put your mail in order. The mail from the Invisible World leaves on time, but when it reaches the earth, the letters get lost somewhere and are delayed for months.

"How beautiful it is for man to realize that he occupies a place in the Mind of God. When he has this awareness and addresses God with a plea for something, his prayer is received.
"Ask God to abide in you and to reveal Himself through you. The only One who transforms people is God.

"All people are searching for the meaning of Life. The meaning of Life is in communication with God.
"The most favorable hours for prayer are the early hours after midnight, for example 3: 00 a. m. and 5: 00 a. m. The psalmist says, 'God I summoned Thee at early dawn.' This means that in the morning before sunrise, I will occupy myself with the most sublime work - communion with the Supreme Center of Creation - to gain the energy necessary to accomplish my work throughout the day. Wherever man goes, whatever work he starts, he needs energy. If he lets the world influence him, the mundane affairs will put him off the track of his life. In the morning when you rise, you need to have one essential thought - to open as a flower. Christ spent the whole night in prayer. Why? Because during those hours, He replenished Himself with the energy He had spent during the day.

"Man must pray. He must work on himself to be ready for the new which is coming into the world. How long should you pray? Incessantly. Prayer does not imply that you need to stop and pray the whole day. You can be in motion and pray at the same time. Work does not exclude prayer. You can pray constantly. Only the one who lives in the Law of Love, and he alone, has the disposition to pray. Whatever he is doing, he is always in prayer. In other words, in the life of a loving man, everything is prayer. A mother says that she has no time left for prayers because of her children. He who cuts trees says that he has no time left to pray because of his job. He who writes says the same. Everybody says that they have no time for prayer, contemplation and meditation. In reality, the prayer comes first, and then all other things follow. First you breathe, and then you work. Otherwise you cannot finish your work. Those who do not pray are not good students. The laziest, the dullest and the least talented students are those who do not pray. Give a theme to a dull student, and he will say, 'Where did this subject come from?' You need to pray when you are in good spirits as well as when you are in conflicting conditions or when there is darkness in your consciousness.

"Man can create seclusion even when among people. Seclusion is not only an external process.
"I will give you one rule: for every man, there is a Divine Wave which lifts him up. When you rise in the morning, do not hurry to immediately go work in the field. Stop, work inwardly, so that this Divine Wave may come, and then you may go and start your work. You could be the most ordinary man, but when the Divine Spirit visits you, you will achieve something beyond yourself.

"If thought, emotion and will do not take part in prayer, it is not a true prayer. To go into your secret chamber means to enter into your virgin soul. Then you will understand the deep meaning of all things and why you are living. The higher the consciousness is, the more discernable
is the prayer. A prayer is more clear when the consciousness is elevated.

"When somebody is in difficulty, I say: pray in order to connect with the Intelligent Beings who can help you. Someone says that he is praying but has received no answer. The reason is that his consciousness is not awakened. The human consciousness is similar to a radio which is emitting and receiving sonic waves from the universe. Scientists say that above the earth there is a belt which deflects the waves and obstructs them from rising. This fact could be used to explain why the prayers of some people cannot go high enough. The more awakened and the more evolved a man's consciousness is, the greater the possibility is for his prayer to be received.

"What is required of man in order for him to connect with the Invisible World? He needs to have his own radio. He has it. When you address your devotional thoughts upwards, you must protect yourself from hostile waves: doubt, disbelief and the lack of Love are waves of unfavorable character which are formed in the astral world. They reflect unfavorably upon the human spirit. The difficulties in the human life result from attacks by these hostile waves. They influence man's prayers and prevent them from ascending. They also stand in the way of good desires.
"Man prays better when he is persecuted. When you are put to great suffering, trials and persecutions, then you pray as you should.

"Until the furnace of the heart is heated, prayer cannot reach God. Man cannot pray in an impure place. You must go to a pure place. Prayers must be transmitted from a pure place. When man is praying, he must be specific in respect to the Invisible World. Otherwise, a prayer is like an application form which does not state what is being asked for. Naturally, in such a case, it is without consequence.

"If I were to pray now, I would ask God for Strength, Knowledge, Wisdom, Love, Truth and Freedom.
"When a man prays, he should ask for the smallest, but at the same time, the most essential thing. A prayer is received when God's Will is taken into consideration. Do the following experiment: concentrate on that which is deep within yourself and say, 'My Lord, I am ready right now to fulfill Thy Will which motivates every living being in the world.' Or say, 'If I have found Blessing in Thee, make me feel Thy Joy in the name of Thy Love, Wisdom and Truth.' Do you know what you will feel? You will feel an excitement such as you have never before experienced. You will feel reborn.

"In a moment, man can transform his face. Turn to God and say, 'My Lord, place me in the Fire of Thy Love.' Or say, 'My Lord, what dost Thou want me to do in order for Thy Kingdom to triumph over the earth and to sanctify Thy Name among mankind?'

"One very important Law states: when you pray for somebody, your prayer gains miraculous power only when it is accompanied by love for him.

"Now, let's concentrate for five minutes and send one good thought to the whole world. The Law states: if you send this thought properly, the work which you will accomplish will be equal to all of the work you have done in your entire life."